HDTV Settings and Room Lighting

With the new high definition television (HDTV) sets, you can get amazing picture quality! You will feel as though you are in the movie theater at home or perhaps even in the middle of the movie itself, and the picture quality gets closer and closer to reality. Unfortunately, you can also get eye strain, garish colors and more if your setting and room lighting aren’t correct. In fact, I would bet that most HDTV users haven’t considered some of the basic things that should be done before watching your HDTV. Let’s first take a look at lighting. Most people turn … Continue reading →

The Options in Digital Video Recording

We were sitting around one weekend evening watching America’s Funniest Home Videos, a program that we consider a family program. The raciest part of that show might be the accidental hit to a father’s groin by a wayward baseball. The show was on at 7 p.m., a time when I imagine most kids are still awake; at least mine are. Maybe you can see where this is going. The host was about to announce the $10,000 winner when the program went to commercial. The screen went blank of a 100th of a second and then was immediately blasted with scary … Continue reading →

Can You Return Your HD DVD?

For those who are “stuck” with the outdated HD DVD system, reminiscent of the old format war that plagued video recording systems, life may be sad; at least as far as home theater systems go. As we all know, HD DVD is dead, beat out by Blu-ray whose global distribution system was far superior and, in my opinion, the main reason for its winning the race. But, the good news is that if you do have an HD DVD system, you may be able to return it for store credit. Some stores are allowing you to do just that. If … Continue reading →

HD DVD RIP

Toshiba, the manufacturer of the HD DVD format announced yesterday that it will no longer manufacture players with the HD DVD format. This basically ends the extended war between the two high definition DVD formats, HD DVD and BluRay. If you have been following this blog, you already know all about the battle of HD and BluRay, manufactured by Sony. Like a house of cards, movie companies and retail companies announced how they wouldn’t be supporting the HD format. Just last week, both Wal-Mart and Neflix said that they will no longer be carrying anything HD DVD. And just last … Continue reading →

Blu-ray Frequently Asked Questions

After yesterday’s article about Blu-ray and HD-DVD technology, I received several private messages from readers who wanted to know more about this technology. Most of the questions were about Blu-ray, so I thought I would start there. 1. Will I be able to play my old DVDs on a new Blu-ray player? Yes, definitely. Blu-ray players are backwards compatible with DVDs, meaning that they will be able to play movies and other content that are on standard DVDs. The players come with multiple heads to support the different formats. You are likely to notice an improvement of quality in your … Continue reading →

Blu-ray or HDTV?

When it comes to true high definition on recorded media, you’ll need to upgrade your home theater system to feature a DVD player that is capable of keeping up with your high definition television, such as a plasma or LCD unit. While progressive scan DVDs make a good effort, they aren’t capable of fully taking advantage of true high definition, either playing it or recording it. Many newer standard DVD players feature technology called upscaling. This maximizes the quality of DVD, giving you better detail and color quality. While these DVD players do an even better job at coming close … Continue reading →